http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fibonacci_Spiral_GeoGebra.svg

       The Fibonacci sequence is a pattern of numbers that was identified and taught by Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1250), a medieval Italian mathematician who also introduced Arabic numerals to Western Europe in his book Liber Abaci (literally translated as “the book of sideboard” in Latin). He studied under Arab Scholars, which was unique because most learning at this time was done in cloistered monasteries. His learning reflected the broader impacts of the Christian Crusades; Muslim learning came to the West in the form of copied and preserved manuscripts of ancient Greek and Roman writings. The actual numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, etc. They are found by adding the two numbers before new digits to create a specific sum. For example, 1+1=2, 2+1=3, 2+3=5, etcetera. This sequence also hints at the Golden Ratio or phi, a number that is roughly equal to 1.618. It appears in the Fibonacci pattern if you divide one number by the next. The new quotients get increasingly close to phi the longer down the number chain you go. For example, 3/5=.6, 5/8=.625 and so on until 1.618.

Tomato flower with 5 petals!

Flower with 21 petals

       There are several other nifty number patterns in this sequence, and they reveal that many entities in everyday life are guided by underlying proportions. The Fibonacci integers are best known for being omnipresent in nature; the number of petals a flower has, the design of seeds in a sunflower, and the logarithmic spirals in a rhino horn are all explained by math. Because of these digits, nature is structured, ordered, and more easily explained. I took random pictures of flowers around my house and found that many of the buds/petals have 5 parts to it (a Fibonacci number!!) I also discovered that animals contain this special ratio as well. Dolphins’ bodies are arranged according to the Golden Ratio, with the tail, fins, eyes, and gills all interconnected. I even divided the length of my forearm by the length of my hand and it came close to phi (around 1.5 inches).

Again, 5 petals!

        Salvador Dali, a surrealist artist of the 20th century, was obsessed with the Fibonacci sequence and the work of Matilla Gyeeka in particular. He thought science was the way to understanding the works of God, although this view was the opposite of what most scientists thought at the time (i.e. Watson and Crick). Dali was fascinated by spirals, rhino horns, and double images; in his “Nature Morte Vivante”, the composition is based off highly structured geometric forms that utilize the Golden Ratio. The spiral in the lower left is the first painted double helix DNA strand in art. This painting is an example of Dali’s “Nuclear Mysticism” phase in which he broke objects down to their basic subatomic particles. Dali furthered explored the divinity of science and the spiral in his painting “Galacidalacidesoxyribonucleicacid.” On the left, a DNA spiral, the symbol of life, contrasts against the Arab soldiers (in a salt cube formation) about to shoot each other in the lower right. In the middle, the image of God reaching down to resurrect his son above Gala (Dali’s wife) unites the composition. Just for fun, I measured the lips of the Mae West sofa and found that the quotient was 1.5 inches!! Mathematics is truly amazing and the thought that all of nature is connected by a single strand of numbers is mind-blowing.

Nature Morte Vivante, Dali, 1956 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Still_Life